Motorhome Tours.

[George..]

Hi all, just returned from a great Tour of southern France with the C.C.Club. Am looking at year, has any one been on a GB Motorhome.com Tour ?

George

 

[Will86]

George,

 

Whilst I think an organised or semi organised tour in France would be a good idea (like hiring a M/H before buying) to do the same in the UK would be a big no no for me. I cannot see anything to be gained, we know the foibles and can read all things. Not so in France.

 

Will

 

[peterjl]

Hi

 

Are you referring to

http://www.gbmotorhometours.com

 

If so this company is run by 4 couples who used to be tour leaders for GB Privelege. When the owner of that company decided to stop the 4 leaders took over, formed a new company, and continued with the booked tours.

 

We used the old company on two tours, one to southern Greece and the second to Turkey via N Greece. Both were excellent, well run, and a lot of fun. We are not by nature members of a group but found it a nice change to go with others to places where we were perhaps less certain. The advantages were

1) we did not waste time finding overnight stops or places of interest ( in Western Europe we use guide books and it doesn't matter if we loose the odd day, but, to us, when it's taken over a week to get there time is more precious)

2) one of our tour leaders spoke Turkish which was very helpful when we broke down and the garage had no English!

 

On the back of our experience we have booked a trip for 2017.

 

Hope that was useful.

 

Peter

 

 

[George..]

Yes that is the tour company I refer to, not UK touring as such, have in mind Germany. We have travelled fairly extensively in our vans planning it all ourselves,but now are looking at other ways of doing it.

George

 

[George Collings]

Several years ago with the original owners we reported on a GB Priv tour for MM to Hungary. It was a new venture then and there was the odd wrinkle but basically well organised.

 

Loaners normally but we enjoyed being part of the group and were taken to places we would not normally visit. The local guide who had been to university in Budapest and Moscow explained how life had changed after the fall of communism and made the trip much more interesting.

 

 

 

 

[StuartO]

Will86 - 2016-07-14 3:36 PMGeorge,Whilst I think an organised or semi organised tour in France would be a good idea (like hiring a M/H before buying) to do the same in the UK would be a big no no for me. I cannot see anything to be gained, we know the foibles and can read all things. Not so in France.Will

The OP asked if anyone had been on a tour with a particular company, presumably to find out whether they are any good.  What led you to imagine that he is interested (in this context) in whether organised tours (in general) suit you?  Clearly they suit him quite well. 

 

How about reading the question properly?  And if you are going to volunteer an uninvited opinion about something which someone else likes and you don't, how about first asking yourself whether you are providing information or argument which will be helpful to others or, as in this case, more or less just announcing your own preferences?  How does doing that help anyone else?

 

[AndyLou]

I have been thinking about asking around if people fancied organising a trip amongst themselves.

Somewhere simple like France or Germany.

The idea would be a rough Itinerary that people could follow all of or just dip into when they felt like it.

My idea would be for people to meet up in the evenings after their travels that day.

 

We used to do all our camping with a caravan in a small club.

This meant that when we returned at the end of the day there were always familiar faces to chat with over a fire log and a drink.

 

We are new to motor homing and the comfort of having "friends" that could help in the planning of a trip even if they were newbies too would take some of the anxiety out of the organising.

 

I am looking for something for next year. Late spring probably.

Let me know if any of you fancy it.

 

Andy

 

[Tall_Mike]

As some will know we are fairly new to the dark arts of motorhoming and to be honest a little wary of setting forth on the continent entirely on our own in a van for the first time.

 

I think tours are probably what you make them but they certainly have their place, I know of some who would I think rather have a limb removed than go on an organized tour but that doesn't include us.

 

As such, next year we are planning to go on an Adria Factory tour in Slovenia, instead of flying we are going to drive through France, Germany, Austria and onto Slovenia and back, this is part of an organized tour with Club Adria - I think for us it will be a great introduction with help with all the minor points - such as replacing gas bottles, continental hook-ups, aires etc without the stress also going to places that have already been reviewed, Looking forward to it - and as I see it hopefully a great opener to bigger adventures later on as the confidence increases.

 

 

[Will86]

Returning to Georges original question the answer is no, not of the type he has in mind within the UK.

 

However ... to add some substance to our background we have been on some 50 organised tours all over Europe the US and Australasia, plus many in the UK. For a beginner they were great but eventually self motivation comes to the front and the individual takes over.

 

The participants accumulated at the advertised destinations by whatever means they could muster. Sleeping arrangements were varied from schools and hostels to tents and ones own transport, hotels were for the wealthy, and the term Motorhome had hardly been invented then.

 

All our tours tours were always combined with cycling events around small outlying villages where only a bicycle could go, particularly magical in the Czech Republic just after communism left, like discovering villages where the main street was still earth. And whatever eating place you called at you were served with a communist menu. This of course was 50 and more years ago. The UK tours were somewhat similar including cycling. (with different foods)

 

Life has advanced and few would want to do what we did. Rows of Motorhomes descending on a small UK hamlet would not be welcoming whereas we always stayed on industrial premises and cycled out each day from there.

 

So George ... the UK suggestion is a valid one but I suggest not so practical particularly with many of the human race now seeking sun and a continental feel.

 

Will